DLM 2010 Food & Wine Show Poster

At my day job at Dorothy Lane Market (an upscale grocer here in town), I'm the only designer on staff. It can be quite demanding at times, and like all design jobs, some projects are cooler than others. Once project I look forward to every year is the Food & Wine Show poster (and related advertising materials). I've designed every poster since the event started in 1998, so it is a real challenge to come up with a fresh idea every year. And let's face it, some years might have been better than others.

Typically, I've stuck with a color palette the reflects the fall season and red wine or night and the moon (since it gets dark earlier in November when the show is held). This year, after looking at my previous years' posters, I realized that I had entirely overlooked the lighter side of wine (and color). So I went inthe complete opposite direction: I made it my mission to explore a color palette the revolved around "white wine".

Along the way, I developed a few ideas that I presented...

The first was inspired by one of my research photos of grapes glowing in the afternoon sunlight, so I added some texture for a Tuscan-inspired concept...

For this concept, I went a bit more stark/fine art simplicity...

Derivative with different background texture and altered bottle color...

And last but not least, champagne colored background with a "leaf glass' (thanks to my buddy Von and his fantastic book, Drip, Dot, Swirl.)

The unanimous choice for this year's poster was the last one: the champagne background with "leaf glass", and after only 1 day of it being posted, I've already received quite a few comments (1 from the owner who said it was my "best ever", guess I get to be employed for awhile longer!) I must say, that honestly, I was rooting for the Tuscan inspired version, but I do think there is a appeal in the simplicity of the "leaf glass" that does work better since it is a fall event.

Seen in San Diego

So I was on vacation to San Diego in mid-October. It is a beautiful city and my friend and I had a great time. And I was able to catch a coupe of signs that made me go hmm....

The first sign I encountered was at the parking garage. While the small sign says "push", the handle screams "pull!" So I pulled first. Then read. Why the hell would you put a handle vertically which is intuitively a pull handle on a door that you push? Geez, I felt like I went to Midvale...(bonus points if you get that joke... :)

The second sign was at the the Hotel Coronado. Here was the lovely outdoor dining setting...

But take a closer look....

So a) how the heck did the tables get on to the grass, and b) are the guests just going to float over to them?

Oh well, at least both of 'em gave me a laugh...hope you enjoyed 'em too!

What The…

I was headed to another store in the shopping center and noticed this store sign:



Vacuum and Gifts?! Yeah, those are two things I always thought should go together, kinda like peanut butter and chocolate, er, wait, bad example… Since I didn't go in (I was pressed for time), I'm curious if all of the gifts are vacuum related?